Our friends at HeadCount and the NRDC Action Fund put together a Best of Bonnaroo compilation featuring “Box of Rain” by Phil and Friends and "Throwing Stones" by RatDog to encourage action on climate change. You can download it FREE at www.musicforaction.org, where you can also email your elected officials on the issue. Get “Best of Bonnaroo” now .
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Clean Air
Whatever - First you have to believe the climate is changing due to our habits. Why not promote change for something we know for sure like that we are polluting the hell out of our environment everyday. How about promoting real change in government and not the dummycrats America foolishly voted for in the '08 elections or even better yet let’s promote change in the attitudes of all Americans who think that they are entitled to something more than life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
I guess it is, after all, some good music anyway even if it never changes anything.
have another hit, of clean air
You can only change yourself, your own mindHalf empty or half full, you decide
This is great
Compelled to respond - first of all, thanks to Bob, Phil, and everyone else whose music is offered for free to inspire action for a better world. Second, the international scientific consensus on human-caused climate change is one of the largest and most thoroughly-researched ever. Third, human history demonstrates without a doubt that we are capable of changing not just ourselves but our communities and indeed the world when we act with courage, conviction, and vision. The Dead are, in fact, one of the countless wonderful examples of that. Now is the time to do everything we can - through music and many other forms of nonviolent action - to solve the climate crisis and, in so doing, build an economy that serves all of us better.
how do you get the music
I did everything it told me to do but i can not get the free downloads???
Sadly...
The IPCC hijacked the environmental movement and promotes carbon taxing and cap & trade. With the cap & trade system that was put in place by the EU lets you pollute as much as you want in one place, as long as you buy a "carbon bank" (for example, a small forest somewhere). Let's come together and save the environment, but stop the power hungry criminals in the UN. Left and Right are both wrong, support individual thought and question authority. There are over 31,000 American Scientists who disagree with man made climate change. Check petitionproject.org
confused? Listen to the music play
Don't mean to make light of environmental concerns, of climate change, or of any actions we can do to sustain the health of our home. I think that personal action begins with personal change, and that one's perception of reality begins that process. The personal decisions we make ultimately translate into action, but as humans we tend to default to the true-believer syndrome and one of the most humanity-centric things I can think is how we think our survival as an animal equals the survival of the planet. Earth doesn't give a rats ass if we exterminate ourselves through our economic subjugation of each other and our irresponsible transformation of land forms from being sustainable-balanced to that of a concrete-covered nightmare overcast with bad air and water. The earth will always heal itself until the day the sun vaporizes our local solar system. The iron in our blood will go back to stars eventually, still, while we're here we can strive to live responsibly and not enslave each other or otherwise cause harm by fouling our nest. Tune in, turn on, drop out and free your mind.
Alaskahead
Amen, and thank you!
Conversation is always more interesting than recitation, so speak your mind and not someone else's.
carbon trading
Ampegbassplayer it is amusing that you blame the Europeans for developing carbon markets. Actually this whole concept originated in the USA more than 15 years ago. US Utility companies have been buying provisional carbon credits for a long time in the expectation that a global market will emerge. The schemes were developed because US companies refused to even contemplate investing in cleaning up their technology, but were prepared to consider a market based approach of investing in carbon sinks in other countries. At the time many of us in Europe were hurling the same criticisms at the USA that you are making about Europe ;-)
Anyway carbon trading is with us whether we like it or not and despite its dangers and flaws it is making a difference already in protecting some unique and fragile and very big rainforests. I am working on a project right now that is using carbon credit finance to protect and enable management by indigenous people of over 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres) of jungle in Indonesia..hardly a small forest. I wish we did not have to rely on this carbon trading route and I am as suspicious of it as you are, but it's all we have right now for conserving the worlds unique treasures ...until people start making bigger choices about the way they live and their entitlement to the worlds resources.
By the way I also do a lot of work for the UN and am not (i don't think) a power hungry criminal. The UN is an imperfect organisation made up of imperfect people like any other organisation. It has the impossible task of meeting the needs and expectations of nearly 200 countries. But much of what it does is good and even the stuff it does not do well is generally well intended. If you ask most people in the world who the real power hungry criminals are you may not like the answer and you would probably think it was an equally unfair opinion. ;-)
alaskahead- how do you know the earth can heal itself
and to what level of health?
My thoughts on your thoughts. thanks for the seed.
you are right, the earth will continue whether we are here or not, but it is our home and we have made it a mess, what kind of guests does that make us to a place that supports us? Also as a species and as an individual I want to be able to see this gift of life that has been given to us extended to future humans and animal and plant species. To do otherwise is just plain greedy and selfish. Life of the earth is not all about humans you are right and that means we shouldn’t destroy parts of it. Do our individual part yes but we are a social animal and many of the problems we have caused are because of this and we need to have some bigger structure than ourselves to address this..... Some of us have to work at the larger structure level as well as an individual one.
If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.
William Blake
more on working as social animals for change
and I am well aware of all the pitfalls in it, will share a few Ed Abbey quotes. thinking of you cosmicbadger as I write this
“One man alone can be pretty dumb sometimes, but for real bona fide stupidity, there ain't nothin' can beat teamwork.”
“You can't study the darkness by flooding it with light.”
"Power is always dangerous. Power attracts the worst and corrupts the best.”
“Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.”
“A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government.”
“Society is like a stew. If you don't stir it up every once in a while then a layer of scum floats to the top.”
keep it wild and free
If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.
William Blake
To Cosmic Badger
I meant no offense towards Europe, most countries agreed to the program that the EU is also involved in during the Kyoto Protocol and post agreements. I was just making an example because many Americans have no clue that this is going on. Of course not everyone in the UN are power-hungry criminals, but there are plenty in it, just like any other organization. When the UN have so much power it's a little frightening. We don't have to accept carbon banking.
Carbon Banking benefits the rich the most, and leaves the middle and lower class out. Big corporations and celebrities are buying out forests around the US getting prepared for carbon banking because they know there is a ton of money to be made, and then they can make it look like they're doing something good "saving the environment" when really they're just looking to make a buck. What do you think? And the IPCC isn't even open to debate, they say there is nothing to discuss because it is a matter of fact. Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth has been shot down for its many flaws, but after years still has not accepted a simple debate. If he's right, what wrong would a debate do?
I just want the truth! What do you think about these matters?
I dunno who this Ed Abbey is
but I've gotta say I like the way he thinks.
previous post
removed due to personal attack. gr8fuldrew, please try again to state your case without insulting those you disagree with.
ME the mod.
Who is Ed Abbey?
this is from Wikipidia
Edward Paul Abbey (January 29, 1927 – March 14, 1989) was an American author and essayist noted for his advocacy of environmental issues and criticism of public land policies. His best-known works include the novel The Monkey Wrench Gang, which has been cited as an inspiration by radical environmental groups, and the non-fiction work Desert Solitaire. Writer Larry McMurtry referred to Abbey as the "Thoreau of the American West".
I might add one of the inspirational writers of my life and I thought I should add one more quote from him, sure to offend some and sure to have others say "how true"
On sport hunting: "Whenever I see a photograph of some sportsman grinning over his kill, I am always impressed by the striking moral and aesthetic superiority of the dead animal to the live one."
If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.
William Blake
Edward Abbey
I'm with Hal.
Desert Solitaire and the Monkey Wrench Gang are two very different but equally fine reads. Life changing stuff indeed.
the climate debate
Thanks for your thoughts ampbegbassplayer.
What are my thoughts? Well never 100% sure about anything.
Look there is never going to be ultimate proof about climate change until and if it is too late. The science is not easy, the variables are many and the timescales too long. And scientists are people too..prone to professional and personal errors like anyone else. There will always be differences of opinion, but the prevailing view is that the climate change is happening, it will have devastating effects on nature and people and that we are to a large extent responsible. The IPCC is not some evil mafia..it has far fewer vested interests than the oil, gas and industrial mafia that tries to discredit them and ignore the evidence.
Look at it this way.
Let us imagine someone with a sick child. They have consulted all the best doctors. They cannot get a 100% diagnosis of what is wrong. Most of the doctors recommend a tough course of treatment: a strict diet, a change of lifestyle, some expensive but not dangerous medicine and a long slow recovery..but for it to work it has to start now. But a few doctors vociferously argue that the problem is just growing pains and it will pass. Meanwhile the child is getting sicker. What would a responsible parent do? Start the treatment or wait and see?
Environmentalists tend to promote the precautionary principle. This states more or less that
it is a better course of action to eliminate the possible causes of a major threat, even if you are not 100% sure of the connection between cause and effect. Interestingly, application of the precautionary principle is a statutory requirement under in European Union law.
And even if we are not certain of the causes,even if we are wrong about climate change, think of the universal benefits of the treatment!
Less waste
Cleaner soil, air and water
Fairer sharing of the resources of this planet
More accountable industry with a better sense of environmental and social responsibility
A stop to the discounting of the environmental costs of industry and development
More creatures and plants for us to share the planet with.
what is wrong with that?
As for carbon trading. I am very suspicious of it. Of course greedy people will try to cash in on it. But unfortunately putting the environment on the market, and putting its financial value ahead of its intrinsic value has been the only way we have to persuade business to get involved. There are some bad cases..there is also some encouraging evidence that it can work.....
so what do you do? Wait and see or start the treatment?
disillusioned with group action
Cosmicbadger, that was an excellent post. Especially like the points on the universal benefits of the treatment you list, like " Cleaner soil, air & water..." "Fairer sharing of the resources..." & "More plants & animals to share.." I agree to the treatment, that's it's application would have long lasting benefits to nature & humanity, even if climate change weren't really happening, again, for the umpteenth time in Earth's history. Which is my lead in for commenting that nature won't "suffer" because of climate climate, be it accelerated by our actions or not. Nature will just adapt to the current conditions and move on. Humanity will suffer because we count on climate conditions to remain stable. We don't factor in earthquakes either, and are surprised & shocked when our "permanent" structures are knocked down. But again to the treatment: your mentioning of "...more accountable industry..environmental and social responsibility..." & ".A stop to the discounting of the environmental costs of industry and development" smacks of a conspiracy towards outright socialism! (probably according to the lords of industry & proponents of the good old trickle down to the masses theory). Doesn't it come to that; deep fundamental "values" involving relationships between the individual, small local groups, and the larger extended groups? My take is that we're still largely controlled by our tacit acceptance of industrial-medievalism (in America anyway). We, in America, tout our ability as individuals to "make it" big and successful because of lower taxes, and to that we salute more development and growth. Must have more! My rant has a purpose, to make the case that although the wise thing to do, we can't decide on real environmentally responsible action (in America anyway) until we're absolutely forced into it. The lords of the castle need their tribute from the serfs that they protect and allow to till the fields.
With a shrug of the shoulders, I agree with Voltaire's Candide, "We must cultivate our garden".
This debate
Comes at an interesting time for me personally and professionally. My company has just made a deal with the Carbon Neutral Company to buy their particular brand of offsets to make our energy usage "carbon neutral." This replaces our previous approach, buying "GreenE" credits, to promote construction of "green" energy projects, primarily wind farms, something that seemed more "real"/concrete to me than the fuzzy stuff that goes around offsets.
I have mixed feelings about the whole "offset" issue, in that while I think it's a good idea, I have neither direct nor indirect "proof" that it works.
But when I look a the specific projects that our offset money would be funding, they all look worthy to me and would certainly be the types of things that I could support in general, "proof" or not. And I've bought into the idea well enough in the past to have purchased my own "Cool Commute" offsets to plant trees that would, in theory, sequester an equivalent amount of CO2 created by combustion of the gasoline for my commute to work. Does that really work? I don't know...but planting trees is a good thing, regardless.
And so the debate continues...
kinda like Han Solo
"Kid, I've flown from one side of this galaxy to the other, and I've seen a lot of strange stuff, but I've never seen *anything* to make me believe that there's one all-powerful Force controlling everything. 'Cause no mystical energy field controls *my* destiny. It's all a lot of simple tricks and nonsense." Whether they call it Global Warming or Cimate Change or CONTROL there is no way that we human even understand 1% of how this place called earth works. Our time on this planet is just a small part of time to understand is simpley not possible. But on the other hand we should do more to clean up ourselves and populition and waste is unreal. But this stuff about "Global Warming or Climate Change" is just meant to usher the One World Government and control the masses...... Don't kid yourself....
It's real
A recent expedition to the Arctic went to examine ice that from satellite imaging looked very solid and healthy, based on the amount of light being reflected from it. They went to that region and found - slush. Their boat cut through it like it wasn't even there.
Fun fact - 90% of Arctic sea ice is now 2 years old or younger.
No one ever said global warming meant there'd never be snow, another cold winter or the occasional fluctuation. It's always been about the long-term trends and average GLOBAL temperatures, not local, which are still heading in the direction of hotter. (If the eastern US blizzards prove global warming isn't real, did the not-really-winter Olympics in Vancouver prove it is?) Nothing in that regard has changed. Denial of the facts will not change them or forestall the consequences. For more info on the effectiveness of the ostrich technique, see US real estate market ("your home is your best investment - always!"), world energy prices (oil closed at $82/bbl yesterday, creeping back up - it was around $20/bbl most of the nineties) or our current debt.
But feel free to turn back over in your bed and hit the "snooze" button. Never mind the wisps of smoke coming in under the door. That's it, sleep...
just downloaded it
well i just sent some kind of bonnaroo induced letter to barbara boxer and diane fienstien about climate change. it wasnt that hard. in fact... i kind of feel good about it now. WOOHOO. and this music is fucking sick! Great wilco song. i'm listening to the whole thing, can't wait till it gets to throwing stones and box of RAIN
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